LIFE AS A WAVE

GUENEVERE NEUFELD loves the ocean. In the same way that Siddhartha learnt about life from the river, she has discovered a metaphor for life in the waves, and shares her understanding on the yogic path.

As a teenager I was obsessed with the ocean. I had daydreams of escaping my humdrum life in a small Canadian prairie town and strolling on warm sunset beaches with sand pressing through my toes. I wanted to sit near that swelling mass of wet and raid wave-rippled shores for newly deposited shells as the tide retreated.

As a fresh graduate, I quenched this angst-filled longing with a long sojourn to different shores throughout the Mediterranean. Ocean tides churned and merged like the diversity of the languages, cultures and religions I experienced in my travels.

Back home in Canada, and recently separated, I needed to go on an inner journey. I was led to an ashram where I heard the words of Swami Sivananda Radha:

“The heart symbolizes an ocean of Lightand Consciousness.”1

The tides of the world are turning. Loud crashes of global current events paint a bleak picture for those interested in building bridges. At times the volume of greed, fear and aggression gets too loud for me, and I dip up and down, fumbling for the shore, feeling helpless and overwhelmed.

In my young innocence I used to extend my values of understanding and inclusivity to those around me. I assumed the leaders of the world reached their positions because they were truly the best people for the job and would work for the greater good of all people. Recently I was forced to let that fanciful dream fully release.

“When we investigate rhythm, we can seethat life is not a straight line, but a wave,with its many ups and downs. But whetherup or down, it still has the same life Energy.”